Your Comments

Not suprised at the news from an underhand and useless government. No doubt there will be some mealie mouthed "justification" for it - environment, economic pressures etc etc.

Funny how this government can always find ways to screw money out of ordinary people but their representatives manage to give away millions to banking fat cats.

We are still living in 'Rip Off' Britain and it is this govenment that is doing it. Any increase in fuel duty at this time will further damage the economy

Another stealth tax to hit motorists again!

just typical of this labour government, they take our money in taxes and bailout failing corporations that are driven by greed rather than gving us, their paymasters, a break when we need it

Writings on the wall Gordon, you best start packing now you lying scottish idiot!!

It's that time of year when not only the sheep are going to get fleeced!

It is absolutely VITAL that fuel duty is reduced in order to make transport less expensive and stimulate the economy into recovery.
Attempting to ruin people's lives by bullying them with tax has got to stop !
This proves that promises made by our current government are not worth anything, and that they have no integrity or honour as people. They app0ear happy to do anything they can to harm Britain and make the electorate's lives a misery. They should be forced out of office and tried for treason.

Typical Brown Duplicity. The man has no shame.

When they announce on the news that unemployment has risen to over 2million, what does the Government expect to get from raising the tax on fuel!!!! Honestly, isn't it about time Gordon Brown actually starting following through with what he says he's going to do.

And I thought the South African government stole from us. Gordon Brown is just as bad.

Nothing surprises me anymore. The gov. giveth, but takes away double. I wondered if it was too good to be true that petrol would not be increased, should have known better.

Well what do we expect from this person, everything he does is underhand, he does not care about anyone of us or the economy, only his self and his big fat pension. If he was a man he would have admitted defeat and stepped down by now.Remind me who invited him to be priminister??It was not us, thats for sure

Nice one Gordon, reduce money in peoples pockets, add cost to product distribution expenses ... another superb measure of stimulating the economy.

With the credit crunch created by the banks and being bailed out by the government, why should the motorist pay for the banks bounses courtesy of the government robbing the motorist yet again. The Big Brother approach is killing the motorist with stealth and greed as they see it its an easy option, what will they do when there is no oil?

Why is anybody surprised? Since the labour party have been back in, they have taken away every tradition that depicted this lovely country, and made more new laws than I have ever known in my 60 years. They have plunged us billions of pounds in debt, which it will probably take many years to recover from. They don't care a fig about the English people. Even the traditional English pub is completely doomed. We are all losing our jobs so why not take away our ability to be able to get to any possible interviews that we may be lucky enough to get, because you certainly can't rely on public transport to get you there on time. Ned I say more.

How much more money is this government going to squeeze out of the average person. This is a totally unjust tax and hits private motorists and hauliers alike.

It is time we all said no!!!

There was talk of the government helping the car industry, forcing people off the road won't do a lot to help. I think most politicians are so far removed from real life these days none of them have any idea how most of us have to manage.

As I write this, oil is $47 dollars a barrel, so why is diesel just under a £1 per litre. When the price of oil goes up the price of diesel goes up like a rocket, but when the price of oil comes down the diesel price comes down like a feather.

Under capitalism we will never have justice and equality.

Ian

As I write this, oil is $47 dollars a barrel, so why is diesel just under a £1 per litre. When the price of oil goes up the price of diesel goes up like a rocket, but when the price of oil comes down the diesel price comes down like a feather.

Under capitalism we will never have justice and equality.

Ian

I've just driven to Oban from Glasgow. The road is falling apart! Huge potholes, drainage none existent in places, tarmac(?) worn out etc etc. I wouldn't mind paying taxes for fuel if it went back into the roads, but this is becoming ridiculous! Now we're talking of 50mph limits on all current 60mph. Why bother? Keep letting the roads deteriorate and we'll all be better off in horses & carts soon! The Government is just taking the p*** with all this taxing, especially in the current economic climate. Never mind, I'm sure all those MP's will get their wheels/tyres replaced FOC, and their expenses claim forms will no doubt have any increase in fuel catered for. Don't you worry about your constituents....!

Gordon Brown knows that his time in charge is short, but seems determined to bring the UK to it's knees. He just doesn't seem to care about the British people on any level.
I'm suprised someone hasn't started a civil war....Cromwell had the right idea

tax tax tax tax tax tax !!!!!! when will it stop the worst recession for decades and still they keep ripping us off , the general public are switching energy suppliers, cutting back on spending not going out to try to save and what does our government do?? takes more money off us ! Mr turpin (Couldnt use his first name it was detected as a bad word !)would have been better in charge of the country .
it has to stop , if they didnt give our hard earned cash away to sponging immigrants and their kin our taxes wouldnt need to be so high this country has become the joke of the world

Typical of this Government. Say one thing - do another. As I spend £100 - £150 a week on petrol, this is diabolical.

Scrap this increase Now !! Families are already buckling under the strain, credit has all but gone, moneys tight, and like a lot of people young sons have been laid off, and another nail in the coffin of the average family is simply another nail too far. You push too much and you'll have another family to support as we give up the slogging week in week out for NOTHING....

Time for a few sums guys. If there are approximately 40 million cars in the UK. The average fuel tank size for these cars is 75 litres. If we make an assumption that most drivers fill their cars up roughly once per week on average (yes, I do know many do this a lot more than once, per week, but at the same time, many others do it a lot less, so just for the purpose of my calculation), this means we are buying about 3 000 000 000 litres of fuel per week. If our government are taking 71 pence in the pound, and with a current average fuel price in the uk of 90.6 pence per litre, of the
£2 718 000 000 we spend on fuel, the government take £1 929 780 000 per week in duty. Across the year, that works out to £100 348 560 000 we are being forced to give our government, and when was the last time you heard of our government spending that much on anything to help the general state of the country.
If the government were to half this fuel duty, this would put an average of £823.29 extra in everybodies pocket in the UK. Thats men, women and children. The benefits would be felt in business too, as manufacturing costs would reduce, goods transportation costs would reduce, and ultimately, the costs of the goods in our shops would reduce, so the extra £823.29 in your pocket will go a great deal further.
Its pointless pressuring the fuel companies to reduce the base costs, as their mark up is minimal. We need to pressure the government to slash this duty, and if they perhaps have not so many large homes (plural as most ministers have a home near their constituancy, as well as one near london, and probably a third country retreat in many cases), and large cars, and all their private health care, all of which we all end up paying for in our many taxes, and stopped wasting money on stupid ideas like the millenium dome (that hasn't been a money pit has it?), and local government spending thousands of pounds on staff who do a fraction of the work of the rest of us, at a substantially higher wage, they might not miss that much of the fuel duty cut.
Ultimately, this could also be an answer to the current financial crash we are all suffering. If your shopping costs, heating costs, fuel costs, all went down, and you had an extra £800 in your pocket, wouldn't you consider returning to the shops and start buying again?

It absolutely beggers belief that this goverment, especially Gordon Brown, could lie straight in bed. don't they understand that targeting the general population with this stealth tax - yet another one..- will bring about his demise?? I will fully support the hauliers and buisnesses that rely on transport as their livelihood when they show they're disgust by direct action!! Is it not bad enough that families are deling with the worst financial climate for 20 yrs and this could tip the balance once and for all?

Time for a few sums guys. If there are approximately 40 million cars in the UK. The average fuel tank size for these cars is 75 litres. If we make an assumption that most drivers fill their cars up roughly once per week on average (yes, I do know many do this a lot more than once, per week, but at the same time, many others do it a lot less, so just for the purpose of my calculation), this means we are buying about 3 000 000 000 litres of fuel per week. If our government are taking 71 pence in the pound, and with a current average fuel price in the uk of 90.6 pence per litre, of the
£2 718 000 000 we spend on fuel, the government take £1 929 780 000 per week in duty. Across the year, that works out to £100 348 560 000 we are being forced to give our government, and when was the last time you heard of our government spending that much on anything to help the general state of the country.
If the government were to half this fuel duty, this would put an average of £823.29 extra in everybodies pocket in the UK. Thats men, women and children. The benefits would be felt in business too, as manufacturing costs would reduce, goods transportation costs would reduce, and ultimately, the costs of the goods in our shops would reduce, so the extra £823.29 in your pocket will go a great deal further.
Its pointless pressuring the fuel companies to reduce the base costs, as their mark up is minimal. We need to pressure the government to slash this duty, and if they perhaps have not so many large homes (plural as most ministers have a home near their constituancy, as well as one near london, and probably a third country retreat in many cases), and large cars, and all their private health care, all of which we all end up paying for in our many taxes, and stopped wasting money on stupid ideas like the millenium dome (that hasn't been a money pit has it?), and local government spending thousands of pounds on staff who do a fraction of the work of the rest of us, at a substantially higher wage, they might not miss that much of the fuel duty cut.
Ultimately, this could also be an answer to the current financial crash we are all suffering. If your shopping costs, heating costs, fuel costs, all went down, and you had an extra £800 in your pocket, wouldn't you consider returning to the shops and start buying again?

Death and taxes - the only certainties! particularly with Gordy boy

What is there to say? The haulage industry will use the rise as an excuse to put up prices just at the time when so many people are losing their jobs. Food will go up and people will despair at the short sighted stupidity of this government. How can you vote for this bunch of comedians?

Promises, promises, promises. empty promises. we're treated in this way repeatedly. Same old story. The government obviously forget who put them there and who pays their huge salaries.
What about their responsibilities to us?
They must have no sense of conscience, no sense of responsibility
They're OK Jack!

This is ridiculous, already with the recession, everything is hard for us. Its already hard to make money stretch for food and now another fuel increase...some of us can only get to work by car and have no other choice!!!!

Gordon Brown doesn't want to help us... just take our money so him and his buddies can have a bigger budget to party on!

Time for a few sums guys. If there are approximately 40 million cars in the UK. The average fuel tank size for these cars is 75 litres. If we make an assumption that most drivers fill their cars up roughly once per week on average (yes, I do know many do this a lot more than once, per week, but at the same time, many others do it a lot less, so just for the purpose of my calculation), this means we are buying about 3 000 000 000 litres of fuel per week. If our government are taking 71 pence in the pound, and with a current average fuel price in the uk of 90.6 pence per litre, of the
£2 718 000 000 we spend on fuel, the government take £1 929 780 000 per week in duty. Across the year, that works out to £100 348 560 000 we are being forced to give our government, and when was the last time you heard of our government spending that much on anything to help the general state of the country.
If the government were to half this fuel duty, this would put an average of £823.29 extra in everybodies pocket in the UK. Thats men, women and children. The benefits would be felt in business too, as manufacturing costs would reduce, goods transportation costs would reduce, and ultimately, the costs of the goods in our shops would reduce, so the extra £823.29 in your pocket will go a great deal further.
Its pointless pressuring the fuel companies to reduce the base costs, as their mark up is minimal. We need to pressure the government to slash this duty, and if they perhaps have not so many large homes (plural as most ministers have a home near their constituancy, as well as one near london, and probably a third country retreat in many cases), and large cars, and all their private health care, all of which we all end up paying for in our many taxes, and stopped wasting money on stupid ideas like the millenium dome (that hasn't been a money pit has it?), and local government spending thousands of pounds on staff who do a fraction of the work of the rest of us, at a substantially higher wage, they might not miss that much of the fuel duty cut.
Ultimately, this could also be an answer to the current financial crash we are all suffering. If your shopping costs, heating costs, fuel costs, all went down, and you had an extra £800 in your pocket, wouldn't you consider returning to the shops and start buying again?

As an earlier commenter says, petrol is currently $47 per barrel. It wasnt long ago that it was nearly treble that price. People see that the fuel price is low at present but this is a blip because of econonmic conditions at this moment. When global economies pick up fuel prices will soar again and the goverment are cynically increasing duty now when the general public will not notice so that when prices are higher then they won't need to hike the rate. Industry needs all the help it can get and increasing this duty is a bad idea.

What is the government trying to do to Great Britain and it's people, it seems the government won't be satisfied until everyone is out of work and starving, because the little money they have won't stretch far enough to allow them to get to the shops AND buy food!

As one of the many now out of work I am angry about the fuel duty going up. I already am finding it hard to Survive on less money and also just diagnosed with Rheaumatoid Arthritis find it hard to walk any distance I rely on the car more.

What I would like to know is, why are the government not jumping down the throats of the oil companies, oil is below 48 dollars a barrel yet petrol and diesel are still sky high.

The oil companies are quick to put fuel up but very very slow to bring it back down.

Just stop and think about how much the government make from tax on fuel! Then think about why they don't invest more money in technology that has been available for decades that would dramatically reduce the need for fossil fuels.

Anything that is consumed in mass is taxed highly, take cigarettes and alcohol for example. Hey why don't we just add tax to air fuel too, oh they thought of that already. Just think about all billions of gallons of fuel consumed by the armed forces that's where all our tax goes does it? If it fixed all the holes in the road near me i don't mind paying the extra 2p but they don't. Instead they will just bang more tax on my car for being over 10 years.

What is the solution, i guess this blog is a start. Some interesting comments on this post. It's amazing how different people think, only if the people that mattered thought the same thing.

I may apply for lottery fund to fuel my car for the next 10 years, well it's old enough and i need a way to see my son!

Brown should go - he is deceiving the public. This is underhand and directly contradicts what was promised.